The Delhi Government spent as much as Rs 6,33,802 on the oath-taking ceremony of 49-day Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and six of his Ministers, held at Ramlila Maidan, on December 28, 2013, according to an RTI reply.
In a revelation made in response to an RTI query by Mumbai-based activist Anil Galgali, JP Sharma, Deputy Secretary of General Administrative Department (GAD) of Delhi Government, said that his department had spent Rs 6,33,802 on the Kejriwal Government’s oath-taking ceremony.
“The amount shown in the reply is incomplete. It relates to the expenditure incurred by the GAD only, while it does into account the amounts incurred by other Government departments and agencies involved in the conduct of the oath-taking ceremony. Had the Delhi Government come out clean on the issue, the amount incurred on the oath taking would have been much higher,” Galgali told The Pioneer here on Sunday.
Apart from GAD, other departments and agencies like Public Works department, North Delhi City Corporation, Delhi Water Board, Health & Family Planning Department, Delhi Fire Brigade Services, Delhi Police, Power Department and Information & Broadcasting department were also involved in the conduct of the function. “I was told that the information that I was given pertained merely to the GAD and that I should seek more information from other respective departments and agencies under the circular of Personnel & Training Department of Govt of India dated 24 September 2010,” Galgali said.
In his query, Galgali had asked the Delhi Government to give him information about the expenditures incurred on the oath taking ceremonies of Arvind Kejriwal and his predecessor Sheila Dixit.
In reply to query on Dixit’s oath taking ceremony held in 2008, the Delhi Government said that it had spent Rs 13,04,366. Of the amount spent, Rs 5,53,715 was towards the expenditure incurred on setting up the stage, while the remaining Rs 7,50,651 was spent on catering food to the guests.
However, the Delhi denied Galgali information about the total numbers of people gathered at both oath ceremonies and the number of VIPs & VVIPs along with total security strength present at the two functions.
According to Galgali, the Delhi government has also refused to part with information about the number of officers who were transferred, suspended and dismissed from service ever since the Kejriwal government came into office on December 28.
Slamming Kejriwal for practising “double standards” on the implementation of the RTI, Galgali said: “Kejriwal began his career as an RTI activist and has gone become what he is today because of RTI. The same man, who would criticise the governments of the day for denying him information, is now depriving basic RTI information to the activists like me. There should be a full-length debate on the double-standards practised by Kejriwal”